He led her by the hand toward his room at the Blue Bird Lodge, the key-chain which held the door key jiggling nervously in his hand. He kept looking behind to make sure she was actually following him. He could feel her nervousness melt with his as her small hand trembled in his big paw.

As the neared the door to his room, he turned her abruptly, causing her to push gently against him. He ignored the shock-waves that made within him and took hold of her chin with his hand that held the door key in the palm. He searched her eyes for any signs she wasn't ready for this step, yet. He found none, but he understood that he never could completely read Teresa Lisbon.

"Are you sure you want to?" he asked her softly. "If you aren't ready—if you don't want to, it's okay. We'll just talk if that is what you want." He dipped his head a little to look her in her emerald eyes. "Just tell me."

She shook her head in his hand and smiled. "No," she replied. "I'm fine, Jane."

He smiled at her and kissed her forehead. "Alright," he whispered. "If at any point and time you just want to talk, tell me."

He let go of her chin and turned back to place the key in the lock. He turned it and opened the door, leading Lisbon inside by the hand. He let go of her and shut the door.

"They cleaned the room up, I see," he told her, looking around the room and seeing the alcohol bottles were gone, the room door fixed with new hinges and the room generally cleaned since the last time he had occupied it. He removed his suit jacket, throwing it on the chair beside him and unbuttoning his shirt to roll the sleeves up a quarter of the way.

He watched Lisbon look around until she brought her eyes up to his. He felt his breath catch in his chest as he saw the flicker of desire fall behind those green eyes. She had been quiet in the taxi over the the Lodge since they had left the TSA interrogation room together. Though she didn't say anything, she kept a hold of his hand tightly and looked at him shyly, this new level of their relationship tentative and different.

"Jane," she whispered to him.

He understood her. He threw the room key on the table to his right and stepped closer to her. His fingers came up gently to stroke the gentle waves of hair that had fallen over her shoulder. He smiled at her as she bit her lip.

"That's a terrible habit," he said softly. He slid his fingers from the curly tendril of her hair to her lip, pressing the pad of his thumb against the softness and rubbing gently.

He heard her breathing quicken at his touch. He made to move his fingers from her, but felt her own fingers come up to press into his forearm.

"Don't," Lisbon murmured. "I like it."

He watched her intently as she lowered her fingers from his arm and he pressed his thumb over her bottom lip again. He leaned in slightly and gauged her reaction as he neared her mouth with his own. He was determined to be mindful of her and the reactions her body gave off.

"You're incredibly beautiful, Teresa," he whispered to her. He dropped his hand from her lip and placed it to under her chin to tilt it up.

He met her mouth with his own, sucking her lip in gently, much like he did when she had asked him to say he loved her once again. He hadn't said it. He had showed her. He wanted to show her just how much here and now, but he wanted to seek her permission. He wanted her to want it, too.

She opened her mouth and returned the kiss, her hands coming up to wind in his hair. He could feel her tug gently as the kiss became harder with each movement of their lips. The moan against his kiss was almost enough to unnerve him. He dropped his fingers down to the hem of her shirt, lifting the green material up.

As he brought the material of her shirt up to her rib cage, he heard her gasp against his mouth. He was going to drop the material and break the kiss, but she shook her head at him brought her hands down over his to help bring up the shirt. She broke the kiss and helped him drag the material over her head, where he dumped it on the chair beside them.

"You don't have to ask my permission or be afraid to touch me, Jane," she told him. "I want you to touch me. Please."

As if to demonstrate this fact, she took his hands and placed them over her breasts covered by her black bra. He looked at her before capturing her mouth again with his, squeezing his hands gently against her breasts, sliding his palms over them as he heard her small inhales of breath. He brought his hands to her back and fumbled with the hooks of her bra and pulled the straps down her arms, letting her shrug out of it and throw it to the floor at her feet.

"I want you to want me to touch you, Teresa," he told her against her warm mouth. "I need to touch you."

And he did. Badly. He wanted his hands in places his mind had only dreamed about. He wanted to make love to her gently. She deserved to be made loved to like a beautiful woman who was just put through and emotional wringer should. There was a time and place to be rough and unhinged; this was a time to run his fingers softly against every bit of flesh he only saw in his dreams and his fingers never thought they'd touch. He wanted to savior this moment with her.

"Then do it," she whispered, reaching for his shirt buttons with her small fingers. "I'm not stopping you."

She had managed to undo his shirt buttons and push the flaps to the side and brought her hands down his bare chest, scraping her fingernails against the skin. She stepped closer to him, pressing her breasts against his chest. Jane used the toe of his shoes to loosen the heel so he could step out from them and kick them behind him.

She reached to kiss him again as her hands fell to his pants button between their tight bodies. He put his two hands to her back, tracing her spine with his fingers. His hands slid downward and abruptly lifted her up so she was forced to bring her legs on either side of his waist and lock her ankles behind his back.

She laughed against his lips. "What are you doing?"

"Standing here is exciting but also tiring," he told her. "There's a bed in this room you know..."

"Oh, really?" she feigned dumb. "Well, how convenient for us."

It wasn't awkward as Jane had thought. It was different, but they were so used to each other that their bodies were in tune even on the intimate level they were demonstrating now. He was glad for that. He just wanted to make her happy. Whatever made her happy made him happy.

He walked her over to the bed and gently leaned down to deposit her onto the mattress, scooting her across the duvet as he crawled onto the bed on his knees with her and kissing her hard as he followed her up the bed until her head was resting on covered pillows.

He broke the kiss to look at her, pushing a strand of hair from her forehead. She smiled up at him and he smiled down at her, his knee between her legs as he knelt over her with his hands on either side of her head.

"Are you happy?" he asked her. "About us, I mean? This?"

She looked at him and sighed. "What is another word for "happy"? Ecstatic? Overjoyed? On cloud nine?"

"Well," he said, bringing his face down to kiss the inset of her throat. "There is blissful... gay..." he brought his lips further down to kiss her between he breasts. "Flying high..." he kissed her right breast and felt her hands in his hair again. "Lots of good words, really." He glided his mouth over her skin and kissed her left breast. He heard her breathing fluctuate as he made his way down her rib cage, dragging his warm lips along and planting small kisses here and there on her skin.

"Pick whatever one of those you want," she suggested, watching as he went lower, lifting up her leg and rubbing his palm over the material of her jeans. His hand ghosted over he knee, around to her calf. He grabbed the back heel of her shoe and pulled on it, pulling her shoe off and tossing it away without looking at where it landed. He removed her sock and threw that over the bed, too.

"Should have taken those off first," he smirked. His hands ran under the leg band of her jeans and halfway up the skin of her calf.

"You're doing a great job of getting them off," she chuckled at the encouragement. "It's a hard job with the boots I wear."

He laughed and removed his hand from under her jeans to get her other shoe and sock off, throwing that with the other two. He slid his hands up slowly over her shins, up past her knees and met both hands at the button to her jeans. He had no difficulty pushing the button through the slit and opening her jeans zipper. He leaned down and planted a soft kiss just under her navel.

He reached his hands to her hips and tugged on the denim there. "Please lift your hips for me, Teresa."

"So polite," she told him.

She lifted her hips and felt her jeans slide off her hips and saw Jane lean up and to the side and pull them over her knees down to her ankles. Lisbon kicked them off using her feet and let them form a denim puddle on the mattress. Jane pushed them with his hand and off they went over the side of the bed, leaving her in her white, hipster panties.

"You know," he told her, his hand lifting her leg and sliding over the calf, "there is something to be said about your legs. I mean, I never see them much, and an up close look at them is actually very interesting."

"Oh? How so?" she inquired, grinning as his fingertips teased her under the knee.

He looked up at her and saw her arms were curved on either side of her head and she was staring amusingly at him. He looked back down at her leg in his hand and tilted his head.

"Take this freckle here," he told her, kissing a spot just below her knee. "I think that's incredibly adorable," he told her.

"Shut up," she told him, laughing. "You are so full of it."

"No, no!" He laughed as she put a hand across her eyes. "I think it's sexy! It's my first time looking at your legs up close. It's endearing, Teresa!"

"Get up here!" she told him, lifting her arms from their places and reaching out for him.

He let go of her leg and crawled back up until his face was hovering over hers. She lifted both her legs on either side of him and with one hand on his back and the other just behind his neck, she rolled herself hard, rolling Jane so that he were underneath her and she was on top of him with her knees bent on either side of his waist.

"How did—how the hell...?" Jane sputtered, still dazed from the quick turn of events.

"You sometimes forget I am a trained cop," she told him, placing her hands on his chest. "I learned basic tactical maneuvers in case I found myself on the wrong side of a suspect," she told him. She laughed at his expression.

"That's a little scary," he told her, laughing softly. "Wow."

"You don't like it?"

"I think—I think it's useful," he told her. "Yes. I think I do like it," he grinned.

"Okay."

She bent to kiss him. His one hand found her back and the other her neck as he squeezed gently, pushing his tongue into her mouth and feeling the warm of her mouth on his. He groaned when she broke the kiss and drifted her hand down to pull the waist of his pants.

"Take them off?" he asked on her hand pulling the material.

He lifted his hips without waiting for an answer. He saw her pull them down to where she sat against his waist. She leaned herself to one side and pulled them down with his boxers, allowing Jane to kick them the rest of the way off and over before settling back on his waist.

She leaned up and Jane bent himself up at the waist to bring his mouth and hands to her breasts. His thumb flicked the tender bud of her left breasts, as her hand came out to rest on the side of his neck. He looked up at her as his mouth took the bud in and sucked gently, causing her head to fall back slightly and her eyes to close. His other hand came to palm her other breast, squeezing gently as he let of her nipple with a pop! of his mouth. He heard her gasp as his teeth gently nibbled the bud, scraping against the pink. He heard a soft groan. He took his mouth from her and looked up at her again.

"Are you all right, Teresa? Did I hurt you?" he asked.

"No!" she told him, pushing his head and mouth back to her breasts. "They're not sounds of pain, Jane."

He chuckled at her against her breasts, though he was gentler with her this time. His hand slid from her breasts and down her sides and over the small of her back, pushing into the elastic of her panties and palming her cheeks, rubbing gently as her mouth was instantly on his once away he leaned his face up enough to capture his lips.

Lisbon lifted herself up enough so that she could reach down to remove her panties, kicking them off with her feet. She reached her fingertips to the dimples at his hips, sliding her nails up and down at the flesh there as his hardness rested against her inner thigh.

"I love you," she whispered, dragging her right hand across his stomach and playing with the patch of hair that led below. "I really am glad I got off the plane."

"I am, too," Jane told her, bringing his head up to kiss her hard. "And I think we already established I love you, but for good measure, I love you, too." He lifted her hair from around her face and tucked it behind her freckled shoulder. "For a long, long time, Teresa." He kissed her forehead.

He was going to tell her that he loved her since the day he met her, but he was distracted by her hand circling around him between their bodies. He looked down and saw that she was positioning herself over him. With a groan, he felt her press him gently into her head, guiding him in with her hand until he was in up to his base.

"Jesus, Teresa," he said, his hands falling to her hips.

"Sorry," she told him. "You were busy talking."

He laughed with her as she put her hands on his chest and leaned forward, swinging her hips upward as she kissing him on his chin. He felt himself automatically guiding her as she slowly rocked her body up and sliding back down on him. Jane wanted to kiss her, but she pressed on his chest and pushed him flat on his back as she sat straight up on his lap, closing her eyes and propelling herself up his shaft and sliding herself back down to gently slap against his pelvis.

His hands guided her gently up, his groans escaping involuntarily as she set herself back down against his sac. He lifted himself despite her hands on his chest and kissed the skin between her breasts, kissing the puckered skin around her nipples as she rode him softly.

"Teresa," he whispered.

She was gentle in her strokes; savoring the moments rather than speeding it up and missing the feeling of him inside her, filling her and stretching her. She could feel his mouth on her breasts and she picked up her speed just a little as he pushed her up his shaft and let her slide down on her own, repeating the action. She could feel the moans coming from her chest as the sensation started to build.

"Jane, faster," she told him.

She felt him push her up on him faster, her hips swinging rhythmically as she felt his mouth on her earlobe, nibbling gently and pulling it with his teeth.

"Oh, God!" she called out, slapping a fist on his bare shoulder. "Mmm."

Jane trailed kisses from her earlobe to her jawline, following it under her chin until his lips found hers. He stifled her moans against his lips as he pushed her faster and harder on him. She cried out, breaking the kiss and scraping her nails across the skin of his shoulder blade. "I'm going to-"

She didn't finish, but she didn't have to. He felt her contract around him, tightening under his hands and stiffening up as she climaxed around him. He groaned as he pushed her up once more, hard. He released into her and groaned as he rested his head against her chest. He collapsed back against the pillow, Lisbon falling against his chest with a thud.

"Dear God," Lisbon exclaimed still trying to catch her breath. "Oh, my God."

Jane reached down and pulled himself out of Lisbon. He circled his arm around her and hugged her to his chest. They didn't say anything for the longest time. Each was silent, drawing circles on each others skin.

"That was... that was a big leap," Lisbon told him.

"Was it okay?" Jane asked her. He felt awkward because of it being the first time they had sex together.

"It was more than okay, Jane," Lisbon told him. "What about you? Was it okay for you?"

"Just talking would have been okay, Teresa," he told her, kissing her hair. "As long as you are okay with what happened, I am more than fine."

"Good," she told him, yawning. "You were good. Very good."

"So were you. Ninja moves and all," he told her and laughing.

Eventually, they fell asleep in each others' arms, exhausted both mentally and physically.

She woke up and immediately reached her hand out for Jane. When she didn't feel him, she sat up on one elbow and looked around sleepily. The room was eerily quiet.

"Jane?" she called out softly.

When she got no answer, she lifted cover over her (that Jane had placed on her when he awoke, no doubt) and sat up completely. She heard the hotel room door open and close, and Jane walking in with something in a brown paper bag and two cups.

"You're up," he greeted her, smiling. "I got us breakfast. You a Bear Claw, me a jelly doughnut and coffee and tea," he told her, setting the bag and drinks on the table.

"You got us breakfast?" she asked, still confused with sleep.

"Yes," he told her, coming to sit next to her on the bed. He kissed her. "How did you sleep?"

"Like a baby, apparently," she told him.

"Do you feel different?" he asked, awkwardness creeping into his words.

"How so?" she asked, placing a hand on his knee.

"I mean... about us being together in this way."

She thought a moment. "Yes, actually."

She saw his fall. She shook her head at chuckled sleepily. "Patrick Jane, sometimes you are so clueless."

"What?"

She pulled him by his shirt close to her face. "I feel different because I am in love with you. We just had sex for the first time last night. That's different... new."

"It's not awkward for you?" Jane asked.

"A little," she admitted. "But you came in here with a smile on your face, Jane, so I am assuming I was good." She smiled, kissing the tip of his nose.

"Did I pass your test?"

"With flying colors."

"I—It felt good? It's been a while, Teresa. I haven't-"

"Jane," Lisbon told him, pressing a hand to his cheek. "You were great. I promise. Don't worry about it. You knew what you were doing. Stop worrying. It's making me feel awkward."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Now can I have that Bear Claw? I'm starving, dammit!"

He kissed her again and pressed a hand to her naked hip. By the time Lisbon got her Bear Claw, it was soggy and the coffee had grown cold. But, on the plus side, she let Jane be on top this time.

"Silver lining," he commented, smiling an hour later as she reminded him of this while he was complaining of his cold tea.